Why you should care

If you are a romantic with a soft spot for underdog stories, allow me to introduce you to Seth and Summer from former teen hit TV show The O.C.

Seth Cohen was meant to be main character Ryan Atwood’s sidekick adoptive brother. His comic book nerd character was the comic relief to Ryan’s brooding, bad boy persona. Summer Roberts’ character had even less of a role at the start of the show, as leading lady Marissa Cooper’s bestie and the object of Seth’s unrequited affection.

But, ladies and gents, sometimes the best things in life are the ones you don’t see coming. The ones nobody ever planned for. The relationships that sneak up on you like a persistent geek with an adorable smile. A goofball who likes you so much he’s willing to embarrass himself in front of the entire high school by standing on top of a coffee cart and demanding, “Acknowledge me now or lose me forever.”

Their sparring and flirting helped us survive The O.C.’s most trying times.

And so began one of TV’s sweetest romances.

Seth and Summer had such great chemistry, creator Josh Schwartz made Summer a series regular after watching them film a Tijuana road trip scene together. This may have been helped just a wee bit by the fact that Adam Brody (Seth) and Rachel Bilson (Summer) dated in real life for three of the years they filmed The O.C. (What can I say? I love on-screen/off-screen couples. A lot.)

They had many awesome moments together. From Seth remembering Summer’s (stolen) mermaid kiss from the sixth grade to any scene with their toy horses, Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle. Or the scenes involving Wonder Woman costumes or Spider Man copycat kisses in the rain.

Another sweet and funny favorite? When they unknowingly lost their virginities to each other. “You weren’t the only virgin in the room,” Summer confesses. “There was someone else in the room? Like filming us?” a mortified Seth replies, misunderstanding.

Their sparring and flirting helped us survive The O.C.’s most trying times (the middle seasons in particular) and honestly, made the show a success. It was only fitting that the two ended up as Mr. and Mrs. Cohen in the series finale.

In honor of Seth and Summer, we’d like to bring you their first big PDA coffee cart kiss scene, for your viewing pleasure. (Bonus: for all of you Bilson fans who followed her to Hart of Dixie, please note that her Dixie love Wade makes an appearance as too-cool Brad in the beginning of this scene. Mind. Blown.)